American Conservative Herald

See Who’s Under Investigation For Illegal Lobbying — Is Obama Next?

Apparently, former President Obama’s deep state tentacles have extended even into federal agencies that no one would have a reason to suspect, like the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).

The investigatory agency was created back in 1998 to look into chemical disasters like the 2010 BP oil spill and the 2013 Texas fertilizer plant explosion. Although the agency has no regulatory authority, it can make recommendations to regulatory agencies.

But now, three members of the agency are being investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspector general’s office for possible illegal lobbying violations. The three, CSB Chairwoman Vanessa Sutherland and board members Rick Engler and Kristen Kulinowski are all Obama appointees.

The Daily Caller has more:

As many as three members of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) are under investigation for illegal lobbying activities, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inspector general’s office has opened an investigation into possible lobbying by CSB chairwoman Vanessa Sutherland and board members Rick Engler and Kristen Kulinowski. All three were appointed by former President Barack Obama.

The investigation was sparked by a complaint the three CSB members tried to persuade attendees of a chemical engineering conference to contact their members of Congress, a source told The Daily Caller News Foundation.

CSB members wanted attendees to urge lawmakers to oppose the Trump administration’s plan to defund the CSB. The conference took place in late March, shortly after President Donald Trump released his “skinny” budget, which called for eliminating the CSB.

“The fact that they have even begun an investigation probably means that there is something in the allegations,” the source told TheDCNF. “They are interviewing all CSB staff who attended the conference.”

Their actions may violate the Anti-Lobbying Act, which makes it illegal for federal officials to engage in “substantial ‘grass roots’ lobbying campaigns” to “pressure members of Congress to support Administration or Department legislative or appropriations proposals,” according to DOJ.

President Trump’s new budget proposals recommending the elimination of the CSB may have been the catalyst for the illegal lobbying activities:

Trump’s final budget proposal to Congress recommends cutting CSB funding $2 million in 2018, and eliminating the agency the next year. Under this plan, CSB’s budget would decrease from $11 million to $9 million in 2018 before being eliminated.

The federal government has a tendency to expand and consume greater amounts of tax dollars with every new problem it tries to fix. At some point, there must be limits imposed upon how much it is allowed to expand.

By allowing a non-regulatory agency like the CSB, which is now under investigation, to continue makes zero sense. We applaud President Trump’s continued focus to eliminate the deep state and save taxpayer funds.